Means for processing canned foods



Sept. 15, 1942. A. HORNER MEANS-FOR PROCESSING CANNED FOODS Filed June' 8, 1939 MQ lnlsl Q 1 N .www

a 5r @MRA/Ey ?atenteci Sept. i5, ldt@ are MEANS WDR PROCESSHNG @BANNED FODS Albert Horner, Kapaa, aal, Territory ot Hawaii Application .lune 8, i939, Serial No. Zilll i claim. ici 12e- 272) This invention relates to the canning of foods and the' like and particularly pertains to means for processing canned foods.`

In preparing canned foods it is often a part of the process to cook or sterilize food products after they have been placed in a can and then to cool the lled cans before passing them to a labeling machine. These two steps are usually performed by placing the iilled cans within a steam box to cook orsterilize the product and thereafter passing them through suitable means to cool the cans and their contents. Heretofore, the common theory of heat exchange in the steps of the process has been to maintain a speed of travel of the can through the structure for a period of time suiiicient to produce the desired action. It has been found that the rate of heat exchange may be controlled and facilitated if the contents of the cans are agitated during a heat exchange period, and that this can be suitably performed by rotating the cans as they travel through a heating or cooling zone, the speed of rotation and the speed of travel being determined in order to control the heat exchange rate between the contents of the can and the heating or cooling medium. It is the principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a means for processing canned foods and the like which passes a can of food through a heat exchange zone whilev rotating the can to agitate its contents and causes the contents of the can to be uniformly presented to the area of the can adjacent the can wall, whereby a uniform and controlled heat exchange will be made between an exterior heat exchange medium and the entire contents of the can.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a piece of apparatus through which cans of food to be processed are passed upon suitable conveying means and in the presence of a heat exchange medium, such for example as steam, when the contents of the can are to'be cooked or sterilized, and cold water or the like when cans are to be cooled, the carrying means over which the cans are conveyed being designed to support the cans in a manner to cause them to be rotated as they travel, whereby the contents of the can will be agitated and re-arranged to produce a uniform heat exchange action.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure lis a view in side elevation showing a structure embodying the present invention and particularly disclosing the agitating and conveying means.

V to receive the shaft 3| Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in section and side elevation showing the manner in which the cans are conveyed through the steam box of the apparatus of the type here concerned.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in plan showing the conveying means as disclosed in Fig. 2 and more particularly indicating the individual drive for the cans.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, In indicates a steam box Athrough which cans are conveyed and within which they are heat treated to cook or sterilize the product sealed therein. I I generally indicates a cooling box through which lled cans are conveyed and Within which they are cooled after having passed through the steam box. These two units of apparatus are suitably supported on a sub frame structure including vertical uprights I2 and horizontal members I3. At the induction end of the apparatus an inclined frame member It is provided carrying journal boxes I5 and I6. Mounted within these boxes are shafts I1 and I8, upon which sets of sprockets I9 and 20, respectively, are mounted. Led around the sprockets is a composite impeller sprocket chain structure 2 I. The details of this construction are more particularly shown in Fig. 3, Where it will be seen that sprocket chains 22 and 23 are led in parallel runs and that they are connected together at certain of their hinge points by transverse impeller rods 24 which space the chains 22 and 23 a distance apart greater than the height of cans 25 which are conveyed thereby. The cans 25 are delivered to the machine from a suitable double seaming machine at which point the cans have been filled and seamed. During transit from the sealing machine to the apparatus here concerned the cans have been turned onto axes parallel so that they as they pass along the can thus flow into the machine and arrange themselves successively between the spaced impellex` rods 24. They are then carried upwardly along aninclined floor 21 and onto a horizontal table section 28. This leads the cans to a positon above a pulley 29. The pulley 29 is mounted upon the horizontal support I3 carrying a journal box 30 l of the pulley. Let around this pulley is an endless belt 32, the upper run of which extends horizontally, as indicated at 33,

will roll horizontally of the can and spans the distance therebetween. The belt is here shown as also being led around their sides with their runway 26. f The cansa pulley 34, which is complementary to the pulley 29 and supports the upper run 33. of the belt horizontally. The chain structure 2| is here shown as having an upper run 35 which is led around a sprocket wheel 36 at the eduction end of the machine. In Fig. 1 this upper run is shown as passing through the coolingstructure The lower run of the chain structure 2| is led around a plurality of idler sprockets 3l and over a drive sprocket 38. The drive sprocket 38 is driven by a motor 39. The lower run of the chain structure 2| is here shown as being led over this drive sprocket so that it will be driven thereby. It will be understood that various other arrangements c ould be used to provide driving force for the chain. Pulleys 40 are driven by the motor 39, one is led around a pulley 4| on theshaft of the pulley 34 and the other is led around a pulley 42 on the shaft of a pulley 43. The pulley 43 is here shown as being complementary to a pulley 44 and around which pulleys a belt 45 is led. This belt passes through the cooling structure The upper run 35 of the chain structure 2| also passes through the cooling structure thus the cans are supported first upon the belt 32 and then upon the belt 45.

' An intermediate transfer table 46 is disposed between the pulleys 34 and 43. At the eduction end of the cooling structure a can runway 41 is provided on which the cans are discharged from theimpeller chain structure 2|.

In operation of the present invention the impeller chain structure 2| is driven at any desired than could be accomplished if the contents of the cans stand motionless.

It will also be understood that in the event itis desired to cool the contents of the can Vthis can be facilitated by the same sort of feed and rotation while passing through the cooling structure 1 I It will thus be seen that by the means here disclosed it is possible by the use of a simple and inexpensive driving and conveying structure to create an efficient, thorough and rapid heat exchange action between products within containers such as tin cans and without possibility of mutilating the cans cr damaging the seams thereof.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention and have described the preferred method of utilizing the same, it is to be understood that various changes might be made in the strucy, ture and that variation could be made in the practical rate of speed and in the direction of the arrow a, as indicated in Fig.l 1. The belts 32 and 45 are driven in the direction of the arrows b and are thus being driven counter to the impeller chain 2|. The power transmission means between the motor 33 and the chainand [belts is so arranged as to produce a predetermined counter movement of the impeller chain structure and the belts. It will be understood that since the cans are of a selected uniform diameter and rest upon their sides between the impeller bars 24 the movement of the belts will cause rotation of the cans in direct proportion to the lineal belt speed and the diameters of the cans. At the same time the impeller ,chain structure 2| is moving in a counter direction at a predetermined speed and this will increase the differential speed between the belt and the chain so that as the cans advance through the machine their speed of rotation will be accelerated over that which will be produced by the driving action of the belt alone. Thus, the cans traveling through a zone steps of the method by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as disclosed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters P-atent is:

A mechanism for the purpose of controlling the rate of heat exchange of filled approximately cylindrical side walled cans with relation to a heat exchange medium which mechanism comprises an enclosed zone within which a heat exchange medium is present, an endless conveyor having a horizontal run, said conveyor comprising a pair of chains spaced with relation to each other and between which cans may lie on their cylindrical side walls, connecting rods between said spacing chains disposed substantially in the equatorial plane of the cans to engage the periphery of the cans, sprockets around which said chains are led and by which they are driven, an endless belt having a horizontal run parallel to the horizontal run of the sprocket chains and whereby the cans will be supported in the aforesaid relationship to the conveyor chain, pulleys around which said belt is led and by which the belt is driven in a counter direction to the conveyor.

ALBERT HORNER. 

